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Author Says Christians Suffering from a 'Dangerous Illusion' About Islam

Contact: Jon Sorensen, 619-387-7200

SAN DIEGO, April 2, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Muslims and Christians don't just quibble over small religious and moral details, says New York Times best-selling author Robert Spencer, they fundamentally clash on essential matters. In his latest book, Not Peace but a Sword: The Great Chasm Between Christianity and Islam, Spencer says that this clash means that Christians who hope for peaceful and easy cooperation with Islam are suffering from a "dangerous illusion."

"The last fifty years have been the age of dialogue," Spencer says, "the belief that differences between faiths -- however deep, ancient, and doctrinally based -- can be smoothed over by talking about what we have in common."

Global events suggest this mentality is naïve. Nations supposedly part of an "Arab Spring" are turning into Islamist disaster zones. Persecution from Islamic supremacists is driving Middle Eastern Christians out of their homelands. Muslim immigration in the West is creating a cultural crisis that no politician seems able to solve. And yet, says Spencer, "it is still considered bad form to discuss or even bring up what divides us," with some Christians all too eager to sacrifice truth for unity, and others looking to Islam as an ally against the mutual foe of secularism.

Not Peace but a Sword applies a badly needed corrective to such attitudes, and makes a compelling case that all Christians who are concerned about truth, about basic human freedoms and women's rights, and yes, about peace and authentic dialogue, must not wish away but instead confront, with confident knowledge, all the barriers that lie between them and the followers of Muhammad.

ABOUT THE AUTHORRobert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch (www.jihadwatch.org), a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and the author of twelve books, including two New York Times bestsellers, The Truth about Muhammad and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). Spencer, a Melkite Greek Catholic, has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group, the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the U.S. intelligence community.

"Robert Spencer is a careful observer of Islam and a courageous voice on behalf of Christians. In Not Peace but a Sword he shows us how to take Islam seriously without falling into alarmism, hatred, or bigotry and provides a needed corrective to media disinformation." -- Scott Hahn, Fr. Scanlan Chair of Biblical Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville

"Dialogue with Islam may be the order of the day, but before we can discuss what we might have in common with Muslims, we had better be aware of the defining differences. With his usual clarity and insight, Spencer gets to the essence of the problems faced by anyone who thinks we can talk our way out of the challenge Islam presents." -- Robert R. Reilly, author of The Closing of the Muslim Mind

To request a review copy or an interview with the author, please contact media@catholic.com.